Today's Considerations
Interesting, is it not, the way that persons hate when their teachers,
preachers, gurus, guides, etc. “grow” in wisdom? They are usually only comfortable with the
familiar, “Lite” version of any messages (that is, with "kindergarten level" messages, as Maharaj classified them). So when he stopped sharing non-duality
+ religion messages and stopped sharing non-duality + spirituality messages and focused on the actual mental roots of
the Ultimate Sickness, the critics said:
"The later books of Maharaj do not enjoy the same
clarity as 'I Am That'. It seems that he himself got complicated or rather
evolved himself or declined maybe as happens to many teachers. It is also the
lack of quality of translation in the level of "I Am That"
and
"His direct disciples who later on became notable
teachers are of an especially low quality (e.g. Ramesh Balsekar, Wolinsky and
others) which makes one to wonder how come"
and
"At first when he was still listening to his guru he
was telling the truth, like he did in 'I AM THAT.' In his other talks, his ego
made him start telling things he dreamed up on his own that were not
true."
And of course when he suggested that it would be science - not
dogma or "spiritual awareness" - which would eventually prove the validity of non-dual
pointers, hundreds of thousands had to conclude that dementia or Alzheimer’s or
some other type of mental complications or decline must surely have set in.
How dare he suggest that . . .
“All scriptures say that before the world was, the Creator
was. Who knows the Creator? He alone who was before the Creator, your own real
being, the source of all the worlds with their creators”
or that
"First of all you identify something as being good or
bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad,
you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that
God for something good to happen to you."
The minds of individuals are the “creator of all worlds” and
the minds of individuals “invented a God”? How dare him indeed, huh?
When Christ was parroting the words of the rabbis and the
Torah at the age of twelve: cool.
But when he began sharing non-duality pointers in the years
just prior to the crucifixion? Not cool at all.
And nothing among those identifying as “Super Catholics” will generate as much doubt about a pope’s
infallibility as when he thinks
and talks and behaves like Christ rather than when he thinks and talks
and behaves like most "Christians."
Here, the case was the same: the audiences were large during
the days when “floyd” was invited to speak in churches or to speak to the members
of “spiritual groups” or when the content of a blog post dealt with super-spiritual subject matter and reinforced seekers' who had self-identified as “the spiritual one.”
After the different understanding came – the same understanding which
came to Maharaj which led him to stop focusing on non-duality plus religion and
to stop focusing on non-duality plus spirituality and to focus on the psychological
roots of the Ultimate Sickness, ummmm, not so
much.
Some excerpts from the book “There’s No Such Thing As Peace of Mind” (There Is Only Peace If You Are Out Of Your Mind) are being shared.
The discussion will now continue with excerpts from CHAPTER
TEN entitled “MIND” and PERSONALITY: What Cultures Consider “Assets” Are
Actually “Liabilities” (Part Three)
This is part of what is offered in that chapter:
The major “problems of the planet” are rooted in personality
assumption and in the warped "mind" that generates and supports false identities or a false Identity;
furthermore, the treatment for identification with personality will never be
sought simply as a result of being diagnosed with a personality disorder. Most
persons will either remain blind to their disorders, will deny their disorders,
will discount or dismiss their disorders, or will minimize the relative effects
of their disorders. Some will even use their personality type to justify their
behavior and dismiss any suggestions that they consider getting free of the
effects of personality, claiming, "That's just the way I am."
Usually, major consequences are required in order for most persons to be
inspired to even try to become free of the impact of personality and the
destruction associated with their personality-driven conduct.
While some cultures make exception for those suffering from
clinical mental illnesses (“innocent by reason of insanity”) most do not
understand at all the far more prevalent nonsense and suffering generated by
personality. Thus, both the problem (personality) and the solution
(abandonment of all identifications) are being discussed in order to allow visitors to know where their
problems are likely rooted and to know that the solution can - in some cases - be provided via the non-dual teachings and Full Realization (that is, full freedom from learned ignorance and full restoration to sanity).
If serious relative-existence-consequences from the
mind / personality nonsense and misery and suffering are somehow avoided, then persons will never exert any effort to
become free of personality defects and the relative-existence-effects of those
personality flaws. Seekers are those who come to know that “something is wrong in this
picture” or who sense that "something is missing” or who at least consider
the possibility that “maybe some of my ideas and beliefs and thoughts are
contributing to my problems.” The non-seekers living under the influence of
mind and personality will continue along their destructive path and can eventually become
sociopaths who will never seek any change or any alternate perspective. They
will fight to defend their false images / personas to the “end.”
Three factors especially lead persons to attach to their false
identities, to be driven to fight to defend their false personality /
personalities, to descend into the depths of what some professionals term “an
unhealthy psyche,” and then to suffer the effects of personality disorders.
Those three factors are (1) stress, (2) extreme piety or spirituality, and (3)
the linking of money / income with a persona. For example?
One who receives money as a result of playing a spiritual
role will become far more attached to the role than one playing a spiritual
role for ego-gratification only but is not receiving money as a result of assuming
that role. As another example, a person sitting in a congregation playing the
role of “The Super Christian” becomes far more trapped in that role if she / he
is subsequently hired to serve on the staff of the church and is paid to work
in that position. All three areas will be reviewed.
STRESS:
The enneagram method of "personality
classification" and "behavior forecasting" is highly accurate in
showing that certain types will disintegrate into behaving like another type
when under stress. (No recommendation is being made to become an “expert” in
personality functioning. It will only generate another ego-state, it might give
credibility to personality rather than help all personality dissolve, and it is
certainly not necessary to become an expert in mirages to understand a mirage
is a mirage.) The pointer is, persons who are stressed will cling to their
personas, will fight to defend their image(s), and will stay absorbed in
personality until it drives them into those levels of "an unhealthy psyche."
INCOME:
It should be easily understood why a persona that generates
income will drive a person to attach to and defend that persona.
ASSUMPTION OF “GOOD ROLES”:
That leaves extreme piety and / or spirituality. Most who
play those roles, even including non-dual seekers who are following some "path," haven’t a clue that they have merely fixated in
another role when the goal is to be role-free. Others will claim that their
religion or spiritual program is “getting them in touch with the Great Reality”
or “makes then kind and loving” and "does nothing to create anything that
separates them from others." Records of the historical conduct of those
two personas as well as objective observation of their conduct nowadays attests
to the contrary. Those roles do represent the third of the seven steps to
Reality, but to fixate in the playing of those roles will prevent Full
Realization.
Now an additional obstacle to Realization can be seen. A
basic irony involved in the search for Realization and freedom from personality
is that the very reasons which inspire many seekers to undertake the “journey”
are also the very reasons that they cannot complete the “journey.” Some seekers
want to be stress-free and at peace. Some seekers long to be free of all
role-playing and to know "the True Self" and to find the answers to the age-old
questions about "the functioning of the Totality." Some want to live
in a simpler fashion and to be free of the money games and the accumulation
games in which they are trapped.
Yet stress, role-playing “the good roles” of “The Religious
One” or “The Spiritual Giant,” and co-mingling role-playing with money
accumulation are the three buttresses that support the assumption of and
defense of phony roles . . . of false identities . . . of personality . . . of
the nonsense-filled minds of the masses.
Maharaj dismissed those playing "good roles" by saying sardonically: “You
are already full of spiritual wisdom. You know a lot in spirituality, and I am
in no position to address you. You are spiritual giants. I am a spiritual pygmy
before you.”
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
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